An Excerpt From...

Body Armor by
Alana Matthews

There was something not quite right about Santa Claus.

Anna didn't see it so much as feel it, a vague uneasiness that spread through her the moment he glanced in her direction. But it was there, and it was unmistakable, and she wondered for a moment if she should call security and have him checked out.

He stood in the middle of the crowded mall, between Anna's shop and a small dress boutique across the aisle, ringing his bell next to a Save the Children donation canister. Something in his eyes said he couldn't care less about the children, however, and for the brief moment he looked at Anna, she was pretty sure his interest lay somewhere else entirely.

Like the area just south of her neck and shoulders.

Anna was in the middle of helping a customera gentle old woman who wanted a peach-blossom body care set for her granddaughterand did her best to ignore Santa's leer, chalking it up to typical Neanderthal behavior. But Anna had her share of lascivious looks in the past, and this one seemed to go beyond the norm and straight into the realm of creepy.

Was this guy even authorized to be here?

He wasn't your typical holiday bell ringer. Most were retirees looking for something to do, but not this one.

He was about thirty years old, and there was a shady, wanted-poster quality to his demeanor that couldn't be disguised by the floppy hat and the fake white beard. Strip away the red suit and all the padding, and you'd probably find a common street thug underneath.

Maybe Anna wasn't being very charitable herself. Maybe he was just a poor unfortunate who was down on his luck and needed any job he could find. That wasn't unusual in this economy.

After what she'd been through over the past week, Anna would be the first to admit she wasn't in the greatest frame of mind. So maybe she should cut this guy a break.

Still, there was a sense of menace in his look that seemed to say he wanted something from her, and the kernel of dread doing somersaults through her stomach right now was not a feeling she could easily ignore.

Just go away, she felt like telling him. Pack up your stuff and leave.

And to her surprise, a few minutes later, he did.

Anna had doubts about coming back to work tonight. Thought it might be too soon. In fact, she didn't normally work at night, but with only three days left until Christmas, and a store overflowing with anxious last-minute shoppers, she didn't feel she had a choice.

Trudy had done a wonderful job of covering for her the past week, but it was time for Anna to swallow her grief and get on with her life. If not for herself, then for little Adam. He deserved a normal Christmas.

As normal as it could be, that is.

She also had other matters to consider. Anna's Body Essentials was her baby, and with her lease about to expire and her rental fee threatening to increase, she couldn't afford to sit at home obsessing over all the things she could have said or done that might have kept her brother, Owen, alive.

The sheriff's department psychologist had told her that it's typical for the family of suicides to wonder where they might have gone wrong.

"Owen took his life because he wanted to," he'd said somberly. "Not because anyone drove him to it. It's unlikely there's any way you could have stopped him, short of catching him in the act."

"My mother thinks that if we'd paid more attention, seen the signs..."

"The signs aren't always evident, Anna. Especially when you only see someone a couple times a week.